Dr. Lera Clone of Heron Lakes Animal Hospital walks through what happens during pet euthanasia: deciding on cremation and keepsakes beforehand, the IV injection procedure with propofol sedation and Euthosol, and what to expect physically after, including open eyes and post-agonal breaths. A practical guide for owners facing this decision.
Hey, guys, My name is Dr. Laron here at Heron Lakes Animal Hospital. Today I had the last visit with one of my patients. And so that reminded me of the situation and the questions that clients ask when they come in and everything that I go over with the clients on that visit. And so I'm going to walk you guys through what you should expect when you're going to your vet for the last visit. It's important to involve the veterinary team or your veterinary family in that decision because they will help you figure out when it's time and when it's not. That'll be another video that we'll talk about helping you figure out when is the right time. So when I have a patient that comes in for euthanasia, typically the clients will come in. And before we really even get started with any sort of poking or medicating or anything like that, I have the clients first figure out whether or not they want their pet cremated. So having. Having. Having that done. And then if they do want the pet cremated, then the other thing that we figure out is whether or not they want the ashes back, because that is an option. You can't get your pet's ashes back. Then the next thing that I ask clients is whether or not they want a clay paw print. And so there's a clay paw print right here that typically what we'll do is we'll make something like this, and it's something very quick and easy. There are different variations of how that can be done. The reason I try to figure this all out beforehand is because at the end of the visit, when everything is all said and done, you can be very emotional, very sad, and I personally wouldn't want to be in the waiting area waiting to pay my bill when I'm in that emotional state. There are some veterinary hospitals that do have what's called a comfort room or euthanasia room, where it opens up straight into the parking lot. And so that's easier. But if they don't have that, it's definitely something that you want to go ahead and take care of those things beforehand. Okay. Once you get into the room, then we go ahead and we'll talk about. I usually will place them what's called an IV catheter. And so these are some different IV catheters. If you look right here, this particular IV catheter is a needle that goes into the vein, and so it's a little straw. And so that way, when we give the drugs, the drugs go straight into the vasculature and they go straight into the bloodstream, and they work very, very quickly. We place these drugs or these catheters because if the patient happens to pull their leg back while we are giving the drugs during the procedure, then we got to poke them again. I don't want to have to poke your pet, and nor does your veterinarian want to poke your vet any more than absolutely necessary. Especially on that last visit with this particular thing. We poke a piece of plastic and that's it, we're done. Now, there are some places that will offer to place the IV catheter in front of the owners. I usually try not to put my technical staff or team members in that position because you have mom and dad or the family looking over your shoulder, and that just puts more unnecessary pressure on the technical staff. And really what you're looking for is the best performance from them, which is getting the IV catheter in place the first time. Okay. Once the IV catheter is placed, placed in the patient, I will usually check to see that it is in place by giving a little bit of flush with something called saline that just makes sure that it's working and that it's in the vein. The next thing that I will give will be something called propofol. It's this white solution. And so this particular solution is something that makes them sleepy. It's something that you have heard of in the past, in the news a few years ago, after that particular medication, then I go ahead and I give the euthanasia solution that's called Euthosol. And that is essentially the way that I explain. It's an overdose of anesthesia. They are going to sleep as if they're going under for an anesthetic procedure. It's not painful, and then they don't wake up. What I usually let people know is that by the time we finish giving that injection, usually their heart has stopped, they have stopped breathing. There are some things that you should expect when they pass. First, their relaxed position for the eyes is open. So I don't want people freaking out asking why their eyes aren't closing. Two, they can lose control of their bladder. So they may pee and they may lose control of their sphincter. Two tone and so they may poop. Three, you can see some twitching of the feet or of the lip, and that can be considered normal. The last thing that you may see is what's called post agonal breathing. Postagonal breathing is much more common in cats than it is in dogs. And what that would look like is if they've stopped breathing, and then all of a sudden, they take a deep breath. And that can happen a few times. That's the body's reflex to get rid of the carbon dioxide that's building up. I explain that to the clients beforehand because if I try to explain it after it's already happened, the clients are hysterical and they can't hear anything that I'm saying. So if you guys have any questions regarding anything that we've discussed today or something else, please let me know. I'm more than happy to help you guys in this particular time. Thanks for watching and have a great day.
